Community Collaboration - Star Belle Ukulele Workshop & Concert
Star Belle Ukulele Band let residents of the Green Prairie Center and community members in learning to play the ukulele. There was a wide range of ukulele experience, and the band did a remarkable job of meeting participants where they were most comfortable. The band was wonderful about helping the Green Prairie residents find alternative ways of holding their instruments so that arthritic hands could still make music. Participants ranged in age from 12 - 105. Then, in the evening Star Belle performed a concert at the Plainview Public Library. The music was a combination of original songs written by band members and cover songs written by other musicians. The audience favorites were "Small Town Parade" and "Sugar Momma".
reported with FY18
For the Star Belle Ukulele workshop, goals include obtaining a diverse age range of participants, participants indicating that they enjoyed making music and that they're likely to do it again. We will determinethat the workshop is successful if 20% of participants are new to involvement with library programs. For the Star Belle concert, the goal is to have diversity in age ranges, and to hear that people enjoyed the concert and are eager to make music with the community again. Surveys will be distributed following each event.
Twenty one percent of the workshop participants had not been part of any library programming before this opportunity. More than twenty families participated in a learning event together, and all of those who responded to the survey questions indicated that they enjoyed making music as a family and would attend musical events in the future. They saw the library as a place where all generations were able to come together to learn something new and make and enjoy music! The Star Belle concert was a wonderful asset to the overall project because the musicians where able to show what can be done with ukuleles. The librarians would not have been able to demonstrate the full range of ukulele awesomeness without Star Belle, and the folks that workded with them and watched the concert found it very inspiring.
reported with FY18